


I, Scientia?

by whythekwehnot



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Anxiety, Brainwashing, Episode Ignis Verse 2, Graphic Torture, M/M, Mental Abuse, Psychological Torture, Whump, alternate ending of an alternate ending, autistic!Ignis, ffxv book club prompt, loss of self
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:35:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22411117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whythekwehnot/pseuds/whythekwehnot
Summary: Ignis went with Ardyn, determined to find out more of what the chancellor was up to. He was outsmarted and taken captive the moment they landed in Gralea, being subjected to torture and psychological abuse in an attempt to break him. Even the most loyal person will eventually snap.
Relationships: Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia
Comments: 9
Kudos: 25





	I, Scientia?

**Author's Note:**

> This is heavy trigger warning work. Please avoid if it will upset or trigger you. I am autistic and I have written my experiences into this fic, please remember it is a spectrum disorder and everyone will be affected differently. 
> 
> CW: graphic violence, abuse, torture, brainwashing, losing sense of self.

Ignis was pinned to the ground, two Magitek soldiers pressing their knees into him and ensuring that he could not jump up to attack Ardyn. The Niflheim Chancellor was crouched down besides Noct, a dagger pressed against his prince’s throat. The tactician was trying to find a way, any way, to get out of the soldiers’ hold and protect Noct. He had sworn an oath, and he would do everything within his power to fulfil it. He would not let him down. 

“Unhand me!” He demanded, trying to swing his shoulders from side to side to shift even one of the soldiers. No luck. They were too powerful. 

“Why do you insist on sticking with this flotsam?” Ardyn asked in his infuriatingly sing-song voice. “He will not protect you or save anyone. He is weak.” He stood and swaggered over to crouch once more, this time in front of Ignis,“You have a lot of promise, join me…” Ardyn held out his hand, extending an invitation to Ignis. 

His tactical thinking kicked in, convincing him to lie and accept the offer.  _ I can find out what his endgame is, why he wants to harm Noct,  _ he thought to himself. 

He struggled again briefly, earning a chuckle from the Chancellor. 

“Okay, fine, I’ll go with you.” 

Ardyn’s eyebrows rose sharply, obviously not expecting that answer. 

“Come then, it’s time to leave.” He waved the soldiers off of Ignis, allowing him to stand. Ignis knew that Ardyn expected him to try to attack, but he had to keep up his facade and play the role he had chosen, so he followed Ardyn back to the airship and boarded quietly. 

—————-

“Where are we going?” Ignis queried, knowing that any information he could gather would be crucial. 

“You’ll see, don’t worry. I promise not to kidnap you, you’re here willingly.” 

“Very well.” Ignis sat back uneasily, his senses on high alert as he tried to ready himself to walk into the unknown. The back of his neck was tingling, he did not enjoy being out of the loop. The worst aspect was his anxiety began to flare, his friends and Noct thought of him as a control freak, and to a degree, they were right. But the real reason was his anxiety over the unknown, his need to have plans A through to E for any and every scenario. His training to be Noctis’ advisor and the pressure from his Uncle to excel in the role from the young age of six had resulted in an overwhelming anxiety anytime that he was not in full control. His heart raced, sweat was building under his shirt and he was stimming again as he noticed an uncontrollable  _ tap-tap _ of fingers against his wrist. He forced himself to stop by digging his fingernails harshly into the skin; the burn that shot through his arm told him that he had broken the thin flesh on his wrist. 

The ship began its descent, the landing alarm blared through the hold he was sat in, ringing off of the metal surrounding him and causing pain to spear through his mind. Ignis shielded his ears, loud sounds had always sent shockwaves through him, causing pain in his head, the inane movement did little to help.

“Scared of a little noise?” Ardyn jibed, a pleased smirk on his face. 

Ignis’ lower jaw crashed into the upper as the land caused him to jump and smack back down on the seat, pain shooting through his face. A grimace became fixed on his face afterward. He stood up, his legs stiff from the long flight. 

“Now will you tell me where we are?” Ignis crossed his arms, taking on a posture that he hoped made him look unafraid. 

“Oh fine, spoil my fun, why don’t you. We are in Gralea.” Ardyn answered, looking annoyed that Ignis refused to play his game. 

The door behind him opened with a loud squeal of rusting metal, one Magitek soldier walked in and struck Ignis at the base of his skull with the back of a gun. Ignis was unconscious before he hit the metal floor.

——————

Ignis woke bound, his wrists and ankles were trapped in hard, cold shackles. He was almost naked, only his underwear was left on him. At least he was covered in that sense. He reached out with his senses, desperately trying to make sense of where he was. He could hear the scraping of metal against metal, heavy footsteps of what he could only assume were more Magitek soldiers and there was a whirring of some kind of machine behind him. As he opened his eyes, he saw bars on all sides, and a thick metal door directly ahead of him with a corridor stretching further outwards. Ignis struggled against his bindings, the cold metal chilling his skin and sending goosebumps across his limbs. The frigid air wasn’t helping, especially since he was essentially naked. He tried to look behind him, but his neck was stiff from where he had dropped his head forward and there was metal horizontally behind, stretching from one arm to the other where he was held to what he could now tell was a cross of sorts, blocking his view. The more he focused, he began to feel a throbbing pain in the back of his skull. Ignis tried to remember what had happened, his last memory was of something hard striking him after Ardyn revealed that they were in Gralea. 

He began to panic, as each of his senses settled and registered everything they could. Ignis tried to break free again. He pushed his arms and legs against the metal, causing angry red marks to grow on his wrists and ankles. He tried to put more force into his motions, using his whole body to fight. It only exacerbated the pain where he was bound. Blisters began to form and small cuts marked his skin under the metal. 

There was a click of a lock far ahead of him, loud but not loud enough to be the door on his cell. He looked up, eyes squinting to see the door at the end of the corridor as it slid open quickly and Ardyn strolled in like he was on an exotic holiday. 

“You’re finally awake.” Ardyn smiled his sickeningly sweet smile, as if he believed he was helping Ignis by holding him here. 

“Noctis allowed this, you know, my men have watched him and those other two idiots you call friends. They’re not looking for you. They don’t care.” 

Ignis stilled, his mind was running a hundred miles-per-hour ahead as he tried to deny the chancellors words. “You’re lying, Noct would not abandon me. Neither would Gladio or Prompto. I won’t believe it.” 

“Ah, very well. We’ll have to do this the hard way then.” Ardyn waved his hand and two people covered in dark jackets and face masks walked in. 

“Make sure to treat him to our very best treatments, doctors. He is our esteemed guest after all.” Ardyn bowed slightly, dipping his hat towards Ignis and walked back out the way he came in. 

Ignis tried to look for any revealing information about the ‘doctors’; name tags, symbols, titles, anything he could remember when he got out of wherever he was in the Niflheim capital. He could see nothing at all. He was forced to stop as his temples started to ache from his eyes straining to see things clearly, his glasses were missing as well as his clothes. 

The two people in coats began to pull in small metal tables covered in various instruments that looked surgical in nature. Ignis felt his heart stop momentarily as it dawned on him what was about to happen. 

_ Please, Astrals, protect me, help me have the strength to keep myself whole.  _ Ignis sent up a silent prayer. 

The prayer went unanswered. 

—————

Weeks passed. Ignis’ arms and legs were covered in burn marks where they had held a blow torch to his skin, deep cuts where a scalpel had torn through skin and muscle. Small scorch marks marked him where they had pressed live cables against him to send electricity coursing through his body, making his heart stutter momentarily. One time he had passed out from the sheer force of the pain they were putting his body through. It was more than he could take. Ignis wanted to fight, he held onto his oath. He held onto his friendships with Noctis, Gladio and Prompto. He held onto the stolen kiss that he and Noct had shared one night when the others had left the haven, the reason since forgotten. 

—————

Ignis could feel himself failing. He was beginning to doubt the others would try to rescue him. The physical pain began to subside as he learnt to compartmentalise his mind. Shutting himself into a box and locking it tight where Ardyn could never touch him. From there, the pain felt as if it was someone else’s body. It wasn’t Ignis, no, no longer Ignis Scientia. He was locked away safely. 

Then Noct walked in. 

“Noctis?” Ignis rasped. “Is that you? You’ve come for me.” 

Noctis looked concerned, rushing forward when he saw Ignis. He tried to loosen the shackles to no avail, instead trying to comfort Ignis. Noct placed his hands on either side of his face, the touch sending electric currents through Ignis’ mind, breaking the box open and letting him back out of his safe haven. 

“I knew you would come for me.” 

“Of course I would. I love you.” Noct smiled. “You need to fight. Walk tall, Iggy.” 

Ignis nodded, his will to fight finding its fire again. Noct’s hands dropped and suddenly Ardyn stood in his place. 

“Awww, you didn’t really think he had come to save you, did you? How pathetic. They don’t care about you. They still haven’t come for you, they’re off gallivanting across Lucis. They clearly don’t want nor need you back.”

Ignis slumped down. He grasped at his will with straws, each one beginning to tear. He had forgotten how long he had been here, weeks? Months? He could have been gone for a year already and he wouldn’t know. Darkness pulled him under, sleep becoming the one haven he still had, despite still being restrained, cold and hungry. He didn’t need a mirror to know he was a shadow of his former self, muscle tone wasted away and bones protruding where they shouldn’t. 

The following morning, one of the doctors came back, a new electric tool in his hand. Ignis tried to fix the shattered box in his mind, imagining any and every material he could to stick it back together. Unfortunately, now that it was broken, it couldn’t be repaired. 

Ignis resigned himself to whatever they were going to put him through next. It wasn’t physical pain, in a sense. However, he felt one of the last pieces of himself crumble to dust as they cut his hair to the scalp, ash blond strands falling in a pile around his bruised and battered feet. They weren’t gentle about it, sharp pricks hitting his ears and he felt blood dripping from them where they had cut the skin. 

Ignis Scientia was losing the fight to keep a hold of himself. 


End file.
